GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. - Led by Kylyn Rigsby who knocked down a career high five three-pointers, the Colorado Mesa Mavericks defeated New Mexico Highlands 78-33 Friday night inside Brownson Arena. The Debeque, Colo. native recorded a season high 17 points to help the Mavericks improve to 12-2 overall and 8-0 in conference.
As a team the Mavericks drained a season best 14 three-pointers. Four of those threes were credited to Daniella Turner who was the Mavs next best scorer with 16 points. Seven different Mavericks recorded threes in tonight's victory which marked the 15th consecutive victory over New Mexico Highlands.
Sydni Brandon recorded seven assists in tonight's victory which were all recorded in the first half. The Mavs assisted 25 of their 29 field goals to tie a season high assists.
The Mavericks shot 46.8 percent (29-of-62) from the field, 41.2 percent (14-of-34) from the three-point line, and 75.0 percent (6-of-8) from the charity stripe.
As the nation's leading defense in field goal percentage and points per game the Mavs limited the Cowgirls to just 25.5 percent (12-of-47) from the field and 30.0 percent (6-of-20) from the three-point line. The Cowgirls attempted just five free throws and scored three of them.
The Mavericks jumped out to an 18-0 lead by the first media timeout of the first quarter. In that run, Rigsby recorded three three-pointers. The Cowgirls did not score until the 4:33 mark and were quickly answered by a three pointer from Turner to extend the lead 21-2. The Mavs closed the quarter on a 7-0 run and held a 26-2 lead after the first quarter.
That was the second time this season the Mavericks have limited an opponent to just two points in the opening quarter.
Turner opened up the second quarter with her second trey of the game. Cowgirl Jordyn Lewis answered with a three of her own. She finished the night with a team high 12 points all coming from beyond the arc. After that the Mavs outscored the Cowgirls 11-6 to close the quarter and hold a 42-13 lead at the break.
The Cowgirls opened the third quarter with a three from Lewis that was answered with a 17-0 run from the Mavericks that lasted until the 1:01 mark. Lewis had the final say of the quarter by stopping that run with another three to make the score 59-19 in favor of the Mavs.
The Mavs played only reserves in the final quarter and outscored NMHU 19-15. With less than five minutes remaining the Mavs closed the game on a 7-0 run that included back-to-back threes from Valentine Desreumaux and Savannah Domgaard.  Noortje Joosten scored the final bucket of the game on an offensive put back to close the game, 78-33.
Up Next
The Mavericks will host CSU-Pueblo tomorrow night at 5:30 pm inside Brownson Arena. The ThunderWolves enter the game with a 3-10 overall record and 2-6 RMAC record after falling to Western 61-50 Friday night in Gunnison, Colo.
